While India’s tradition of khadi and cotton is cruelty-free, vegetarian or vegan consumers have been hard-pressed to find brands that deliver the same aesthetic of leather, with style and panache. Cheap alternatives are often made from poor quality and non-environmentally friendly plastics. These have begun to be replaced with durable and better quality manmade materials, which may consist of recycled or sustainable materials, or non-PVC polyurethane by brands that are conscious about ethical values as well as the ecological impact. A few of the brands that deliver the goods make the shortlist below, including some tried and tested favourites.

Stella McCartney: Pretty much anything from her collection has haute appeal, but above all she is a designer who is respected for spearheading the conversation about ethical fashion and walking the talk. Because of McCartney, ethical luxury is no longer an oxymoron. The Stella Star shoulder bags and the Stella Logo Hobo are winners from her latest collection. The hobo, available in a range of pop and muted colours takes alter-nappa to another level of sexy.

Gunas: Brought up between Ludhiana and Pune, Sugandh Agrawal founded Gunas in 2009 in New York, where she currently lives. She has invested years of research into finding the sweet spot between affordability and quality for a chic leather alternative. The Tippi Tote in a range of colours (though the mint shade is divine) is roomy, comfortable and well-crafted, while their recently-launched men’s bag crafted in MULBTEX™️ is made from mulberry leaves.

Jill Milan: Started by a vegan, Jill Frazer, the luxury bags are handcrafted in Italy and have been seen regularly on the international red carpets, carried by celebrities like Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lawrence. Their stylish Newbury Street Portfolio from their latest collection looks like a trendy clutch, but the interior can accommodate an iPad.

O bag: Hailing from Italy, these bags are customisable and also offer interchangeable handles and styles. Made of EVA polymer, they are waterproof, lightweight and resilient, with various conscious options. The O Bag mini herringbone from their Spring 2018 collection allows you to swap trims, handles and inner bags—changing the look of the same tote.

Pelcor is a Portugal-based brand that offers cork skin products as a sustainable alternative to leather—cork being eco-friendly. Besides bags and shoes, they also have tech accessories like this laptop sleeve and pet products.

Plumis India’s first 100 percent vegan beauty brand that is priced sensitively and offers a range of products including the Angel Eyes Kohl Kajal which comes with an easy-blend smudger. Founded by an Indian chemical engineer, Shankar Prasad, and created in a London design studio, Plum is a sustainable brand using natural ingredients.

Matt and Nat’s Mitsuko in a range of pastel shades is a perfect office bag which can be slung or carried in the hand. It had me at the recycled cork label, recycled plastic bottles’ inner lining and the price tag that is also a bookmark. The quality is so good that it doesn’t disintegrate or wear out over time. The brand, started by an Indian in Canada, Inder Bedi in 1995, is a pioneer in the affordable cruelty-free accessories space, with exacting aesthetics. They have great options for men as well.

Save the Duck is a third-generation Italian brand creating cruelty-free outerwear. They replace goose-down feathers to line jackets with PLUMTECH® which keeps the jackets warm and light. The jackets, like this puffer vest, are easily foldable and great for travel. They have options for both genders.

Other online resources that cover clothing, shoes, accessories and beauty:

Ethica: An online retailer that gives the low-down on ethical fashion and emerging designers while offering a curated list of labels to shop from. Their ‘stories’ section keeps the dialogue alive.

Modavanti: Online retailer that speaks the language of sustainable and ethical fashion. They offer a unique ‘badge’ system—one of the eight badges is vegan—and for a brand to retail on this site, they need to have at least one of the badges.

PETA.org: The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals keeps a tab on the cruelty-free brands and PETA Mall has a directory of them across fashion and beauty and including health and food. Countries have their own local PETA chapters as well.

Is it surprising that a country with more vegetarians than the rest of the world put together isn’t a prime market for cruelty-free fashion? Perhaps not. In India, being vegetarian in diet and branded in lifestyle has equal social footing. Genuine leather and silk, and branded goods that use these products are de rigueur. After all, India is the largest consumer and the second largest producer of pure silk in the world.

Pure silk made by boiling silkworms to extract thread; genuine leather, suede and fur made from animal skin including those of endangered species; natural or cultured pearls extracted by prying open and inserting irritants into live oyster shells; pillows and jackets that use plucked bird feathers; products made with red dye that comes from crushing cochineal beetles; testing of beauty products on live animals are among the regular items that cause harm to living beings on their journey to us. While deep followers of religious texts like Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism describe ahimsa, the concept of ‘non-violence against all life forms’, as open to interpretation and customarily linked to what is ingested rather than worn.

Western culture has opened up the dialogue on vegetarianism or veganism as secular-ethical choices that trickle to every aspect of one’s life. Musician and PETA supporter, Prince, famously said, “Compassion is an action word with no boundaries,” and refused a fan who tried to give him a leather coat during a concert, saying, “Please do not kill a cow so I can wear a coat!”

In India, the deeply entrenched class system has filtered into the post-liberalisation lifestyle as well. Gandhian beliefs are relics to an increasingly brand-conscious society that draws self-worth from icons of status. Hyderabad-based Kusuma Rajaiah, who holds a patent for eco-friendly mulberry ahimsa silk—silk made without harming pupae—states that while his business has grown from 2 lacs per annum to 1 crore per annum in less than two decades, nearly all of his ahimsa silk fabric is produced for export. It may not be within the local psychology to accept the shift, after all, pure silk, due to its natural sheen and texture, has always been considered to be a symbol of royalty, and, historically, was used primarily by the upper classes. So what chance do ‘cheap’ artificial materials have? Faux fur, made from cellulose or synthetic fibers; pleather (polyurethane); ultrasuede, made from vegan microfiber; or vegan silk, made from synthetic, bamboo or man-made yarn, may not always match up to the ‘real’ thing.

Pervasively, Indian shopping choices are linked to value. Indians would not be willing to pay top rupee for something not ‘genuine’ and to get high-quality artificial goods and designs can become pricey. Says Sugandh Agrawal of New York-based vegan brand, Gunas, who has spent eight years researching the sweet spot between a viable price point and enduring fabric, “No one wants to pay good money for durable leather alternatives, and the cheaper alternatives peel off. Besides, it is not a priority to invest in a vegan bag.” The starting price for a Gunas shoulder bag is $100 and can go up to $250. Stella McCartney, the world’s first ‘vegetarian’ luxury brand (2001) has nailed style as well as gone deep with the materials. For example, their Falabella Go backpack is created using recycled polyester fabric made from ocean plastic and costs $935.

Vanity and status may play a prominent role, but the most consequential factors in making this decision are simply awareness and deep conditioning, along with the non-existent need to question or defy tradition and rituals. Gurgaon-based professional, Zeal Sharma, who is a Certified Main Street Vegan Lifestyle Coach and Educator, finds with people she coaches and speaks to, that people don’t realise how they may be a part of an industry that has commercialised the exploitation of animals. Many people believe that leather goods come from dead animals, and they don’t question bone china crockery or down feather duvets, despite the self-evident names. “Leather isn’t a by-product. It is the most important co-product of the meat industry. In India, where most of the world’s leather comes from, cows often march hundreds of miles in extreme dust and heat to slaughter, without a single drop of water or food. Workers break cows’ tails and rub chilli pepper into their eyes in order to force them to keep on walking after they have collapsed from exhaustion,” says Stella McCartney in a video for PETA.

“Lack of awareness coupled with hidden facts and our inherent naïveté that ‘good’ companies would do the ‘right’ thing have led to an increase of these products. Moreover, they are easily accessible and now we are habituated to them,” is Sharma’s experience. Eventually, it boils down to change and the will to do so. While PETA India’s website lists approved vegan fashion labels, and even talks about vegan weddings in India, evidently demand follows supply. As Gunas waits to find an Indian partner to launch in the founder’s home country, Agrawal notes that even her extended family hesitates to make the leap. Perhaps it will take a celebrity ‘Gandhian’ fashion icon to set the bag rolling on this concept.

Published in Mint Lounge, Saturday May 27, 2017
(Additional images and content used for this post)

If you eat meat, stop reading now. If you are often accused of being a grass-eater, carry on. The eureka moment, when you realize that if you don’t eat it, you shouldn’t wear it, is accompanied by a sense of sartorial discomfort. In India, while designers flirt with the idea of cruelty-free fashion, it’s not all-encompassing. Satin clutches and beaded pouches aside, where do you find the sophisticated bag, the kind with fashion lineage and net worth, the bag that speaks a million dollars with a slight flash of its label? Where do you find a bag that isn’t nouveau riche and one which shows that you care? It may sound noble, but saying no to leather isn’t glamorous when your options are polyurethane.

Stella McCartney’s #FalabellaBox in wicker.

In 2001, Stella McCartney, a life-long vegetarian and a supporter of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, took her lifestyle choice and made it a sustainable business. The British designer doesn’t use leather or fur in any of her high-end fashion products. They are cool, edgy and modern and keep the good politics alive, one animal at a time. It actually mimics leather so beautifully that you wouldn’t know the difference, unless your eye picks out the giveaway trademark metal edging (and really, with that price tag, it will keep society from judging you on the basis of your bag).

While McCartney’s classic Falabella handbag (distinguished by a braided chain detail) packs a punch, the Canadian company, Matt & Nat (Materials and Nature), came as a complete eye-opener. When it arrived in the mail (after the whole customs shindig), the vegan bag itself was sleek and functional, but what the “live-beautifully” product said was that the lining was made with 100% recycled plastic bottles (clocked at approximately 21 bottles per bag). The label is made from recycled cork, the price tag moonlights as a bookmark. They have introduced recycled bicycle tyres in their collection and on Earth day, their Instagram post noted that they have recycled over three million plastic bottles to create the linings of their bags. Unlike cheaper man-made materials, this bag lasts until you tire of it, without any difference in texture or appearance.

While their site does not publicize it, the founders are of Indian origin: Inder Bedi launched the company in 1995 after moving to Montreal to go to university and attempted to go vegan. He found his options limited, so he set out to become a game changer. Five years later, Manny Kohli, another passionate vegan, joined him, and is currently president and chief executive officer. Their office lives by the philosophy, including having monthly vegan potluck meals.

Gunas bag and wallet.

Take another instance of vegetarian-turned-vegan Sugandh Agrawal, who grew up in India and now lives in New York. Her experience with raw hide, while interning at a local handbag design firm that specialized in exotic skin handbags and shoes, led her to start her own line of vegan fashion wear, Gunas.

Grain’s stirrup tote bag.

Unlike man-made leather, ahimsa leather, which has become a topic of serious discussion in India over the last few years, is made from the hide of dead animals. Grain, started by Avinash Bhalerao in 2014, offers unisex bags. While no certification is provided, they work with 30-year-old tanneries that recycle the skin of dead animals into leather, which is the closest you can get to the real thing, without actually harming the animal.

Brands like Guess are dipping into the man-made leather initiatives—but it wouldn’t be amiss to begin thinking about sustainability, and going all the way while you are at it. It is a process of transition, as model Renee Peters explains on Ethica, an ethical fashion blog: “The hardest thing about going completely green has been doing it while being a member of the fashion industry and wanting to express my personal style. I have to work harder at curating my own look….” Go ahead, make a difference, one bag at a time. There is #NoRheson to say no.

Stella McCartney’s Falabella wallets and bags made from eco alter-nappa and the oversized Stella Popper.